The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 175

The Law inculcated that the injured should member of the state. The Lord leaves to obtain from those who did the wrong exact the state its own jurisdiction (eh. xxii. 21; compensation (on this being properly a flick Meyer). That ye resist not; Revised Version, re8ist not, thus avoiding all possi- command, not merely a permission, vi& bility of the English reader t11hing the Mozley,' Ruling Ideas,' etc., pp. 182, sqq.). words as a statement of fact. Evil. Bo Our Lord iuculcates giving up of all in- the Revised Version margin ; but Revised sistance upon one's rights as an injured Vetsiou, him that i, evil (cf. ver. 37; cb. vi. person, and entire submission to injuries, 18, note). ;The masculine here, in the sense ernn as far as proffering the opportunity for of the wicked man who does the wrong, is clearly'preferable; Wickliffe, "11 yuel man.'' fresh wrongs. (For a very careful defence of Cbrysostom's Ver. 38.-An eye for an eye, and a tooth opinion that even here ..r;; To111Jprji refel'II for a tooth. No short phrase could more to the devil and not to man, see Chase, 'The accurately describe the spirit of the Mosaic Lord's Prayer in the Early Church'). legislation. Offences against individuals Shall smif,e ; Revised Version, smitcth. The were to be punished by the injured individual right reading giv•es the morevivid present. receiving back, as it were, the exact com- 'Pa1r/(., comes in the New Testament here pensation from him who had injured him. and cb. xxvi. 67 only. It is properly used While this was originally observed literally, of a stroke with a rod. (For "smiting on the it was in Mishnic times (and probably in the cheeks," cf. the curious rendering of Hoa. time of our Lord) softened to payment of xi. 4 in the LXX; cf. also Isa. t 6.) Thee money (mde Lightfoot,' Hor. Hehr.'). The on thy right. Matthew only. Although it phr::uie comes three times in the Pentateuch is more natural that the left cheek would be (Exod. xxi. 24 ; Lev. xxiv. 20; Deut. xi.x. hit first (~foyer), the right is named, since 21). Notice: (1) The LXX. he.s the accusa- it_js iJr cp~mo!J.·parlailc,e .hel~ t_o be, t~e tive in each case, although only in the first wortn~er (?( Y,:r.:29). Ch~ek. ~'"''Y"'"• th~ugh does a verb precede. Probably the . ex- properly Jaw, 1s 'here eqm valent to" cheek;" pression had already beoome proverb1al in e.s certainly in Cant. i. 10; v. 13. Turn. The Greek even before the translation of the action seen; Luke's· "offer" regards the LXX. (2) The Hebrew of Dent. xiL 21 mental condition necessary for the actiori.' • is slightly di,fferent from that of the other Ver. 40.-The parallel passage, Luke vi. two passages, and as the preposition 'there 29b, gives the taking of :the garments in used (:i) is not so necessarily rendered· by the converse order. And if any man will l,.,,.,./, that passage is perhaps the least likely sue thee; Revised Version, and if any man of the three to have been in our Lord's would go to law with thee. Notice tbat mind now. It seems likely, however, that "will," "would" (7'<p 0eAovn), implies that he was not thinking of o.ny one of the three the trial has not yet even beg=. Do this passages in particular. The words served even before it. And take away thy ooat, let him as e. summary of the Law in this him have thy cloke also. Coat (x•r~v), respect. equivalent to tunic, "shirt-like under-gar- Ver. 39.-llnt I say unto you, That ye ment" (Meyer). Cloke (lµci.T1011), equivalent resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite to over-cloak, "mantle-like over-garment, thee, etc. The first clause comes here only ; toga, which also served for a covering by the second is foillld e.lso in Luke ,;i. 29 (for night, and might not therefore be retained the principle, cf. 1 Cor. vi. 7). We may o.s a pledge over night (Ex. xxii. 26)" notice that, while our Lord most perfectly (Meyer). This is put second, as being the observed the spirit of this command, be more valuable. In Luke, where there is no did not slavishly follow the letter of it (cf. mention of the le.w-conrt, the thought seems John xviii. 22, 23). Nor did St. Paul (cf. to be merely of the violent removal of the .Acts xvi. 35.ff; xxii. 25; xxiii. 3; xxv. 9, 10). garments, taking them as they ea.me. Let We must remember that, while he clothes him have (li.1/m aJnii). J\1ore positive tho.n his tee.ehing with the form of concrete Luke's "with hold not" (µ.¾ Kc.,A6crps ). examples, these e.re only parabolic repre- Ver. 41.-Matthow only. Shall oompel 11entations of principles eternal in them- thee to go; Revised Version margin, "Gr. ~lves, but in practice to be modified impress" (a.nape6cr«). From the Persian. &ecording to each separate occasion. " This Batch (' Essays,' p. 37) shows that while offering of the other cheek may be done out- the classical usage strictly refers to the wardly; but only inwardly can it be always Persian system of mounted couriers (do. right" (Trench, ' Sermon on the Mount'). scribed in Herod., viii. 98 ; Xen.,' Cyr.,' viii. We must further remember the distinction 6. 17), the poet-classical usage refers to the brought out here by Luther between what later development of a system, not of postal the Christian has to do e.s a Christian, and service, but of the forced transport of mili- wLut he has to do ea, perhaps an official, tary baggage. It thus indicates, not merely on. v. 1-48.J THE GOSPEL ACCORD1NG TO BT. MATTHEW. 167